Project Stories

In 2006, I was a part owner and CEO of Kilikanoon, a boutique Australian wine brand. I used to receive daily news alerts with wine related content. One caught my eye. It described the recent felling of a magnificent 350 year old French oak, planted by order of King Louis XIV, the famous Sun King.

After a long career as a professional cellist, a new millenium dawned, and serendipitously, I found myself deeply involved in the rapidly expanding Australian fine wine market. Seppeltsfield was a sleeping giant with a treasure trove of ancient fortified wines. Its impending sale was an opportunity too good to be true.

Georges Braque is best known as the co-founder of Cubism with Pablo Picasso at the beginning of the twentieth century. His very late works are little known, as most have never been offered for sale.

“Jimmy’s Cello” is in fact how I came to know this amazing instrument. James Whitehead was an eminent British cellist who had emigrated to Australia after WW II, and subsequently had a wonderful career in Adelaide, as its preeminent cello teacher as well as a distinguished performer. His cello was legendary.